Outline the evolutionary process of selection and discuss the relationship between adaptation and environment, using examples from chapter 2 of Mapping Psychology (Book 1).
Tooby and Cosmides (1992) define evolutionary psychology as psychology informed by the fact that the inherited structure of the human mind is the product of evolutionary processes. (Clegg, 2007, p.107) Evolutionary psychologists believe that the brain based skills we use to carry out task from the simplest form to more complex task has more to do with the way we learn and remember things, rather than actual knowledge.
In its simplest form the evolutionary process is the process by how modern species and organisms have formed to what they are today from ancestors. The timescale in which evolution occurs is so large that is difficult for us to comprehend. Evidence of primitive life forms has been dated as far back as 3,300 million years, not until relatively ‘recently’ (on that time scale) did life evolve to even the complexity of the first shellfish. (Clegg, 2007, p.116) Evolutionary changes over such long time periods occur due to genetic transmission and diversity and selection over many generations. Genetic transmissions is the transfer of genes and genetic information from one generation to the next. Genes are formed by particular sequences of a complex chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid (i.e. DNA). Evolutionary psychology is linked to two areas of selection. Sexual selection and natural selection.
Sexual selection works by the individual differences in physical and psychological traits affecting access to the quantity and quality of mates available. (Gangestad and Thornhill, 1997) (Clegg, 2007, p.124) Meaning the higher number of potential mates would mean the higher selection of finding a quality mate. The two main areas that receive the most attention is sexual selection are intrasexual selection and intersexual selection. Intrasexual selection involve members of one sex...